Let’s face it, being debt free is awesome! You don’t have an obligation to hand your hard earned money over to someone else every month only to be charged a fee for doing so. You don’t have to purchase the things you really do need on additional credit because you can save enough to buy them outright.
It’s freedom from what is often called the financial hamster-wheel that you can’t just step off of. It’s having the ability to go to sleep at night and not worry about what you will do if the furnace fails or the hot water heater dies or your car has a major repair requirement. It’s a step closer to living with less stress in your life.
I have read many web bits of information on such things with a pitch to tell you how to get out of debt and so often I couldn’t help feeling like what I was reading was a scam….just another way to separate me from what money I had managed to save. For me, this was because the very idea of freedom from debt sounded like a fairy tale and the persons pitching the idea just didn’t seem trustworthy for no other reason than my lifelong experience of being in debt as a way of life and feeling like it was natural.
Using credit aside from buying a house to purchase goods and services unless you pay off the purchase at the end of each month, really says, I have no means of buying said goods and services with my current savings because I really don’t have enough cash saved for the purchase. It also says I didn’t plan to buy what I now want to purchase with credit. It speaks volumes about a person’s focus. It is an indicator of someone who insists on a standard of living that is more than they can afford without planning. On a side note….Being a Gold Digger by the way, isn’t a plan and supporting one isn’t much better.
It’s easy to step onto the financial hamster-wheel of borrowing money but it’s very hard to step off and the very best advice I can give to anyone considering hopping on and going for a run better think twice before making the leap.
Some people will tell you that one way to step off the hamster-wheel is to go the bankruptcy route and if you have nothing to loose and everything to gain, I could see the logic in that choice if you never intend to buy a house or take on a job that requires good credit. It’s fine line that one must carefully consider before crossing. I also think that once you have crossed that line, it could become habit forming and a bad habit at that. I don’t recommend it even if you never intend to use credit again.
To all my friends, I say this, if you aren’t on the wheel but you have been, congrats for getting off and to those considering borrowing, please think long and hard before you do and realize you can’t just “quit” when it starts sucking. For those who are on the wheel going for a run and you want off, I am sure you know the way out. Just stay focused, pay more than the minimums if you can and reduce your standard of living to a level that you can afford and get the bills paid. Once you are done then you can move back up a bit. You will be happier I can assure you.
To those who are criticized for scaling back on their expenses, know this…you have a plan and a goal that you are sticking to to become free of financial burdens. The criticism just means you are doing something about it to a degree that even your friends will notice even if it’s not for them.
I have been criticized for saying I cannot afford something or another but had actually saved enough cash to make the purchase. Some call this “poor mouthing”. It’s anything but “poor mouthing”! It’s saying I don’t see the value in spending money on the goods or services without seeing it as wasteful spending, therefore, I cannot afford to waste my money on the goods or services that I have been suggested to buy. Or simply put, I cannot afford that item. It’s a waste of money and I am saving what I can for a more useful purchase.
Looking forward to being able to come home, debt free and less stressed.
-CR
Rowland Ramble - 